all pics Hugh Thompson/ HMV Next Big Thing
Around February, following a full month of “sound of next year” articles and programmes, surveys and round-ups, one starts to tire of getting told time and again what The! New! Thing! is. So for the HMV Next Big Thing concerts to be launching right now risks running up against jadedness – doubly so when all the acts on a bill to one degree or another are laden with 1980s pop references like virtually every other new band on the circuit right now.